Dawkins, Richard. The Selfish Gene. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989. Originally published in 1975.

Cultural transmission is analogous to genetic transmission in that, although basically conservative, it can give rise to a form of evolution. . . Language seems to ‘evolve’ by non-genetic means, and at a rate which is orders of magnitude faster than genetic evolution. (Dawkins, 1989, p. 189)

The argument I shall advance, surprising as it may seem from the author of earlier chapters, is that, for an understanding of the evolution of modern man, we must begin by throwing out the gene as the sole basis of our ideas of evolution. I am an enthusiastic Darwinian, but I think Darwinism is too big a theory to be confined to the narrow context of the gene. The gene will enter my thesis as an analogy, nothing more. (Dawkins, 1989, p. 191)

I think that a new kind of replicator has recently emerged on this very planet. It is staring us in the face. It is still in its infancy, still drifting clumsily about in its primeval soup, but already it is achieving evolutionary change at a rate that leaves the old gene panting far behind. . . The new soup is the soup of human culture. We need a name for the new replicator, a noun that conveys the idea of a unit of cultural transmission, or a unit of imitation. ‘Mimeme’ comes from a suitable Greek root, but I want a monosyllable that sounds a bit like ‘gene.’ I hope my classicist friends will forgive me if I abbreviate mimeme to meme. (Dawkins, 1989, p. 192).

Examples of meme are tunes, ideas, catch-phrases, clothes fashions, ways of making pots or of building arches. Just as genes propagate themselves in the gene pool by leaping from body to body via sperms or eggs, so memes propagate themselves in the meme pool by leaping from brain to brain via a process which, in the broad sense, can be called imitation. If a scientist hears, or reads about a good idea, he passes it on to his colleagues and students. He mentions it in his articles and his lectures. If the idea catches on, it can be said to propagate itself, spreading from brain to brain. (Dawkins, 1989, p. 193)

Imitation, in the broad sense, is how memes can replicate. But just as not all genes that can replicate do so successfully, so some memes are not successful in the meme-pool as others. (Dawkins, 1989, p. 194)

Some memes, like some genes, achieve brilliant short-term success in spreading rapidly, but do not last long in the meme pool. Popular songs and stiletto heels are examples. Others such as the Jewish religious laws, may continue to propagate themselves for thousands of years, usually because of the great potential permanence of written records. (Dawkins, 1989, p. 194).

if you contribute to the world’s culture, if you have a good idea, compose a tune, invent a sparking plug write a poem, it may live on, intact, long after your genes have dissolved in the common pool. (Dawkins, 1989, p. 199)